The present invention relates to a three-dimensional image editing device, a three-dimensional image editing system, a three-dimensional image editing method, and a three-dimensional image editing program for editing a three-dimensional image produced from a plurality of images, and a recording medium on which the program is recorded.
It is known that a human perceives depth when the left and the right eye view an object from different angles and from different distances. The left and the right eye view the object differently and this difference is called a parallax.
There have been hitherto proposed methods of causing a human to perceive a planar image as a three-dimensional image using the principle whereby a human perceives depth. For example, when the same object is imaged from different angles to produce images, one for the right eye and the other for the left eye (a right eye image and a left eye image), and when the right eye image and the left eye image are shown to the right eye and the left eye, respectively, with these images physically displaced rightward and leftward, the human perceives the two planar images as one three-dimensional image. Thus, a parallax is produced by displacing a right eye image and a left eye image with respect to each other. Hereinafter, the amount by which the right eye image and the left eye image are displaced with respect to each other leftward and rightward is called a displacement. When the right eye image and the left eye image are in perfect alignment, the displacement is 0.
Since the human perceives depth to a degree that depends on the degree of parallax, the perceived depth (pop-out amount) of a three-dimensional image can be adjusted by adjusting the displacement between the right eye image and the left eye image. It is also known that expansion and contraction of a three-dimensional image change the displacement between the right eye image and the left eye image and, hence, the pop-out amount as well.
When editing a three-dimensional image, the editor may expand or contract the three-dimensional image. The pop-out amount of a three-dimensional image changes also as it is edited. JP 2004-349736 A describes a three-dimensional image processing device whereby when a three-dimensional image may become difficult to produce a sense of depth or when a three-dimensional image may fail to produce a sense of depth as a result of expansion or contraction thereof, the user is alerted thereto, so that the pop-out amount can be adjusted to an amount permitting comfortable perception of a third dimension.